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Oblark
Oblark was a robot that was entered by the Oxfordshire Fire Service in the Forces Special of the first series of Robot Wars Extreme. It reached the second round of the special, before losing to Anvil after becoming immobilised. Design Oblark was a tall, wedged box-shaped robot driven by two 10 inch go-kart wheels, with the tyres filled with foam. It was armed with a pneumatic axe operated by a 175psi ram and a lifting arm operated by a 1000psi ram, in a similar configuration to Mortis. The lifting arm proved very powerful and capable as a self-righting mechanism, although it was vulnerable to breaking off after a certain amount of uses. The robot was armoured in 3mm of aluminium and 12mm of polycarbonate and driven by two 24V Fracmo wheelchair motors that gave it a top speed of up to 18mph, but suffered from poor manoeuvrability. Oblark was painted silver with hazard stripes, flame motifs and L-plates over its bodywork - one of which made up the "L" in the robot's name - and a green Fire Exit sticker on its underside. The Team The Oblark team represented the Oxfordshire Fire Service, and were based in Witney. The team captain and creator of the machine was Rob Heasman, who was previously part of the Jurassic Park team known for entering Robot Wars with Steg-O-Saw-Us and Steg 2. He was joined by Stan Launchbury, the captain of Team MouseTrap. Indeed, Stan Launchbury had intended to enter the episode with MouseTrap, but it had sustained too much damage in its battle with S3 during the Fifth Wars, and the team joined forces to compete with Oblark, also being joined by Tom Butler. Etymology According to Claire Heasman (daughter of Rob Heasman), the name Oblark came from R'ob', Nico'la' and Ma'rk' (Rob and his eldest two children). This name was created after Rob had left due to his children being young and he had to help his wife. This was similar to how Mike Lambert named his robot Dantomkia after his children. Robot History Extreme 1 Oblark fought Mega-Hurts of the Royal Navy and Rhino of the Army, and was nudged by Rhino at the start. Mega Hurts and Rhino became stuck, so Oblark tried lifting both opponents, before axing Mega-Hurts. By the time its two opponents were separate, Oblark tried reversing into Mega-Hurts, but Rhino ploughed into Oblark's side and pushed it. Oblark missed with its next blow, and its lifter appeared jammed open, but Rhino was no longer mobile, and Oblark axed it. The House Robots finished off Rhino, confirming Oblark's passage into Round Two, where it met Anvil of the RAF. Oblark seemed slower at the start, barely moving forwards and it was axed by Shunt early on. The House Robot tipped Oblark over with his scoop, before Oblark landed on its front, flipping itself too far, attempting to self-right. Shunt pushed Oblark, allowing it to land right-side-up. The Fire Brigade robot was then pushed into the wall by Anvil, and its axe was dangling over the wall, but it was freed by Refbot. Oblark was pinned against the wall a second time, and freed, but when it fired its own lifter, the weapon broke off entirely. Oblark was no longer able to move, and was flung by the Floor Flipper, before Sir Killalot placed the defeated robot over the flames, and then into the pit. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 1 *Losses: 1 Series Record Trivia *Oblark was the only robot in the Forces Special not to appear in its team's introduction. External links *Oblark website (archived) Category:UK Series competitors Category:Extreme only competitors Category:Robots from Oxfordshire Category:Robots with Spiked Axes/Picks Category:Robots that represented military or emergency services Category:Substitute Robots Category:Robots with an equal amount of Wins and Losses Category:Robots named after real people Category:Robots with Rear-hinged Flippers Category:Robots which debuted in Extreme 1 Category:Robots which only fought in Extreme 1 Category:Robots named after their team members